Space Pirate Captain MacTaggart
Space Pirate Captain MacTaggart is a Scottish/American transmedia series of stories created by Craig Black. It is part of the Tails from the Federation mini-franchise, part of the larger Kings Gator Characters Universe. Early history and fan-fiction Many elements of Space Pirate Captain MacTaggart began their lives as part of a series of fan-fiction stories created by Craig Black, based on the British hospital radio series Space Gypsy. In all, Black wrote five stories in the series: Project Kumo; Curse Of The Chrome Paw;'' Wearing Flowers In Your Fur''; Kyoko The Other Woman; and Return Of The Chrome Paw. Many of the elements Black added to the Space Gypsy ''universe were later carried over into ''MacTaggart, and there are some drastic differences between the two versions. The most notable of these differences is in Jaws MacTaggart herself. Jaws was originally a much more villainous character, out to capture (and later destroy) the Space Gypsy herself, Gemma Mildury. These stories gained a small, yet loyal, following, in the form of Jake Elmer, a fellow fan of Space Gypsy. Elmer became a major player in the creation of the stories, making creative suggestions and even producing artwork. C&D and integration Black's Space Gypsy stories soon came to the attention of some of the small crew behind the original series. Their reactions to this take on their work were generally neutral, but Black was asked to try and shed off the dark edge he'd given to the stories. This put paid to certain ideas Black had for future stories, which were luckily reinstated during the development of MacTaggart Sadly, even Black's efforts to tone things down weren't enough, and things came to a head in July 2015, when Black was issued a cease-and-desist order from Derwent Valley Productions, the producers of Space Gypsy. This effectively put his fan-fiction to an abrupt end, halfway through publication of Return Of The Chrome Paw, which he was forced to remove (Kyoko The Other Woman was also removed, of Black's own accord). However, the other three stories can still be found on Black's deviantART page. Around the same time, though, he had coming up with ideas for a spin-off from his fan-fiction, focusing entirely on Jaws MacTaggart. Due to the C&D, he decided to retool his idea into an entirely original project. He transplanted most of his original additions to the Space Gypsy universe over to this new series, which soon gained the title of Space Pirate Captain MacTaggart. Jordann Edwards, best known for creating The Dynamite Twins and Friends, discovered what was being developed through Jake Elmer, who also had a hand in the project. Almost immediately, Edwards was on board, and he integrated it as part of the larger KGC Universe, alongside his own stories, and those created by many of his friends/creative partners. Only a few months after the C&D, the first "episode" of the new series was released on October 2nd, 2015. Titled The Jolly Roger Of The Stars, it revamped the story of Jaws MacTaggart in a much more positive-if a bit grisly-light. Future As Captain MacTaggart becomes part of the KGCU, Black and Edwards have both been discussing plans on where to take the series after writing the first "episodes". Edwards had been contemplating on the idea of a major crossover event. Influences There have been numerous influences for the development of the series. How it was influenced was contributed by the creative team. * Craig Black was influenced by the original Star Wars ''trilogy, as well as the works of Gerry Anderson, and the British radio series ''The Space Gypsy Adventures. He also added a lot of Japanese influence, citing the works of Hayo Miyazaki and Leiji Matsumoto, in addition to Go Nagai's X-Bomber ''(released in Britain as ''Star Fleet). * Jordann Edwards, as the series was in development, brought some of the influence for his own series (namely his love for Japanese culture, and his affinity for urban music). Once he discovered the series, he pointed out that it had the scope of Star Wars, mixed with Guardians of the Galaxy and Tripping the Rift, in terms of humour. * Jake Elmer contributed to the look of the characters through his own artwork, which was partially influenced by that of Mark Smith, the artist for Space Gypsy. This in turn had influences of both The Raccoons and the works of Cosgrove Hall. Jake also plans on writing a Theme song, for the series He states the song will be influenced by his love of hard rock/heavy metal music.